Most of us are familiar with Child Protective Services, or CPS. CPS, or an agency with a similar name, is the agency in each state that has assumed the task of protecting our kids from abuse or neglect by adults, especially their own parents. A recent study explained in the October 2010 issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine suggests that child abuse investigations do not significantly reduce risk for future violence or abuse. In fact, the study links investigations to increased depression in mothers. The results have given ammunition to many who had already been calling for a drastic scaling back of CPS and the many millions of dollars that Congress and state legislatures annually direct towards CPS.
Congress passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act in 1974 because of concerns about battered children. That Act was also designed to encourage more thorough and accurate reporting and record-keeping in child abuse cases. These days, the role of CPS has grown and evolved. In 2007 alone, CPS nationally investigated more than three million cases of suspected child abuse. Today, CPS also enjoys almost unlimited investigative and search and seizure powers, much greater than that of police, that can … Read More... “Child Abuse Investigations: Good, Bad or Ugly?”
The single most dangerous element in living with an abusive man is your denial of the problem. More women are killed by their domestic partners than by the hands of strangers. If your spouse has shown any of the signs or symptoms of being abusive, it is extremely important that you get help. Depending upon the situation, help comes in all forms from seeking counseling to calling the police. The way to find out what intervention is most appropriate for your situation is to call the women’s shelters in your area. Even if you do not need “shelter” in a physical sense, the shelters can provide you with invaluable information anonymously and for free! If you do not have a shelter in your area, chances are the closest big city will have one. All of the shelters have toll-free lines, so it doesn’t matter which one you call. All calls are kept anonymous for your safety. The caseworker at the shelter can assist you in figuring out what you need to do to be safe. Some women feel embarrassed to call the shelters; they believe they should be able to handle it themselves, or their problem is not as bad … 
In recent years there has been a steady and alarming increase in the use of false allegations of vague, unsupported claims of domestic violence and even vaguer claims of child abuse, used solely in an attempt to find a shortcut to a presumed better position in custody cases. What is more alarming is the observation that more often than not the attorneys of record for the litigants making these claims have been those unschooled in and relatively new to the family law arena, who have chosen to step outside their actual specialty and add a minor “division” of family law to their practices. Often, a new, young, unskilled associate is added to the practice to handle these family law issues.
In spite of his mom’s death from breast cancer two years ago, 14-year-old Damian appeared to be doing well. He was experiencing typical adolescent issues with independence and responsibility, but seemed to be working those out with his dad. Damian was starting to think about college, motivated by a desire to “always make my mom proud of me.”
This is a follow-up to my recent article about Ohio Domestic Violence and the impact it can have on individuals. I decided to write this article to help educate the public about Domestic Violence proceedings in Ohio and what people should know when filing a petition or responding to a petition. After conducting an informal survey, I discovered that there are many important issues that people need to consider when dealing with a Petition for Domestic Violence. I have included some of the items that court personnel wished people knew, including information on the Petition, what is relevant in the proceedings, and the impact that a finding of Domestic Violence can have on an individual.
It isn’t every day that a Family Law issue makes it all the way up to the United States Supreme Court. Last month, however, the Court issued a decision in United States v. Hayes that could have a far-reaching impact on Domestic Relations and Criminal Law in Ohio and elsewhere. A lot of people realize that Federal law prohibits anyone who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from possessing a firearm or ammunition. But now, after the Hayes decision, many more people are barred from possessing a firearm or even ammunition!